Police in Mali arrested 20 suspected Islamist militants on Monday in the southern town of Zegoua, near the border with Ivory Coast, after the men crossed the border on a bus bound for Mali's capital Bamako and the northwestern town of Gogui. Malian security sources said the 20 men were taken to Bamako for questioning.

According to a security source cited by Reuters, most of the suspects are Mauritanian, with some also hailing from Mali and France. Authorities are currently trying to determine the authenticity of two French passports seized during the arrest. The same source said that the men were "all Islamists, all bearded."

When contacted by VICE News, the French embassy in Mali and the French Foreign Affairs Ministry could not confirm the nationality of the two individuals found carrying French passports.

A local source said that the group's leader, a Mauritanian man identified as Samir Enrique, was also arrested. The Malian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from VICE News.

The arrests come just one day after Malian police detained a man identified as Saouty Kouma in the central town of Melo. Kouma is the suspected mastermind of a March attack on a restaurant in Bamako that killed a Frenchman, a Belgian, and three Malians. The Islamist militant group al-Mourabitoun later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police in Mali have redoubled their counter-terrorism efforts in the south of the country following a recent wave of attacks across the south and west, including the capital Bamako, which was formerly considered safe.

Last week, police arrested two men, including an envoy of Iyad Ag Ghali — the leader of militant Islamist group Ansar Dine — as they were headed into Bamako. During the arrest, police seized several recent propaganda videos in which Ghali urges his followers to mobilize in Mali's north and south.

Police also seized a message from Ghali to one of his accomplices in the south that reportedly included details of future attacks. According to Reuters, six other people — including two women — were detained for questioning in connection with the arrest.

According to intelligence gathered during questioning of Ghali's presumed messenger, Ansar Dine is currently looking to the south as a potential target for attacks. The group has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks against Malian troops and UN peacekeepers stationed in the center and south of the country, including in Bamako.

"The aim of the attacks is for jihadist groups to flaunt their presence and get people talking about them," Pierre Boilley, director of the Institute of the African Worlds (IMAF), told VICE News. "[Insurgents] want to show that they can strike anywhere, north or south."

French radio channel RFI and news outlet Jeune Afrique have both alluded to a new coalition of four Islamist militant groups in the south of Mali, along the border with Ivory Coast. Ansar Dine is rumored to be heading up the coalition as a means to expand its operations in the south. According to local media, including news site Mali Actu, the new southern jihadist front plans to settle in the border forest of Sama.

In January 2013, France launched operation Serval, a military operation to rid northern Mali of militants. In July 2014, Serval was replaced by Operation Barkhane, a counter-terrorism campaign across Africa's Sahel, a region that includes Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso.

According to French military sources, the fighting in the north between weakened militant groups and Operation Barkhane forces has been a game of "hide and seek." Speaking to the Associated Press on Tuesday from the former Islamist stronghold of Gao, French Colonel Luc Laine said that the security situation in the north was "different," with operations that are "highly reliant on intel gathering, research, with lots of waiting around and isolated actions."

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MISSION STATEMENT

It is our position that shariah law imposes second class status on women and is incompatible with the standards of liberal Western societies and the basic principles of human rights that include equality under the law and the protection of individual freedoms. The shariah code mandates the complete authority of men over women, including the control of their movement, education, marital options, clothing, bodies, place of residence and all other aspects of their existence. Further, it calls for the beating, punishment, and murder of women who don’t comply with shariah requirements.
In our efforts to stem the encroachment of shariah in the West, we are focusing on the following objectives:

Education of the American public about the inherent human rights violations and the attempt to undermine or replace U.S. law and American statutes with Islamic shariah

Alerting policy makers and legislators to potential human rights and equal rights violations and working toward the development of possible remedies and legal actions

Building coalitions with like-minded organizations to develop policy initiatives and interventions for victims of shariah.

IMPORTANT TERMS

Shariah: an all-encompassing and in-transmutable system of Islamic jurisprudence, found in the Koran and the Sunnah, that covers all aspect of life, including daily routines, hygiene, familial roles and responsibilities, social order and conduct, directives on relationships with Muslims and non-Muslims, religious obligations, financial dealings and many other facets of living.

Ird: the sexual purity of a woman that confers honor to her husband, family and community. Ird is based on the traditional standards of behavior set forth in the shariah code and includes subservience to male relatives, modest dress which could include veiling and the covering of the body, and restricted movement outside of the home. The loss of a woman’s ird confers shame upon her family and can result in ostracism by the community, economic damage, political consequences and the loss of self esteem.

Zina: the Koranic word for sexual relations outside of marriage. Under shariah law, Zina is punished by lashings, imprisonment or stoning to death.

FGM: female genital mutilation refers to the partial or complete removal of the female genitalia for religious and cultural reasons. It is practiced to preserve a female’s chastity and dampen her sexual desire. FGM is permitted in the Koran but required by the Shafi’i, one of the four schools of shariah law within Sunni Islam.

Honor Killing: a murder, usually of a female, committed to restore the social and political standing of a family or community when it is believed that the victim has violated traditional behavioral expectations. Such violations can include improper covering of the body, appearing in public without a male relative chaperone, talking to an unrelated male, or exhibiting independence in thought and action. An honor killing can also be based on hearsay or gossip that is perceived as damaging to a woman’s relatives.

Forced Marriage: a marriage that is conducted without the consent of one or both parties in which duress is a factor. Such duress can include violence or physical intimidation, psychological abuse, blackmailing, kidnapping, or threats of imprisonment or institutional confinement.

SLAVERY IN ISLAM

Islam permits the taking of slaves as “booty” or as a reward for waging jihad. Slavery became a Muslim tradition at the time that Mohammed moved to Medina and amassed sufficient power for the enslavement of non-Muslims.
Slavery is an accepted part of Islamic society and is never viewed in a negative way in the Koran, Sira or Hadith. In fact, it is a God-given right for Muslims to have slaves.
[6:7] Allah has given more of His gifts of material things to some rather than others. In the same manner, those who have more do not give an equal share to their slaves so that they would share equally. Would they then deny the favors of Allah.

Although Islam has sustained slavery for 1400 years, a Muslim may never be enslaved. Only non-believers or kafirs may be enslaved and may be eligible for freedom upon conversion to Islam at the discretion of the slave owner. Slavery is viewed as a moral good in Islam as it transforms a kafir into a believer.

Slaves have no means for legal action in Islam and their rights are based solely on the good will of their master. If a slave flees his master, this is view as a sin against Allah.

Slaves have few civil or legal rights.

The following are rules pertaining to slavery from the Shariah:

1) Muslim men may have sex with female slaves at any time and it is not possible to “rape” a slave.

2) Slaves have the same status as animals and it is permissible to whip them.

3) No Muslim can be put to death for murdering a slave.

4) A slave’s testimony is inadmissible in court.

5) Slaves can be forced to marry whomever their master chooses and may not choose their marriage mate.

6) Christians and Jews who do not pay the jizya or protection tax can be enslaved.

In his book, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, historian Robert Davis estimates that North African Muslims abducted and enslaved more than 1 million white Christian Europeans from the coastal towns from Sicily to Cornwall between 1530 and 1780. Muslim slavers also seized people from Britain, Ireland, Iceland and even American seaman on ships in the Atlantic.

In a recent case of Muslim slavery in the United States, Sarah Khonaizan and her husband Homaidan Al-Turki were arrested for forced labor, sexual abuse and harboring an alien for enslaving an Indonesian housekeeper in their home in Colorado.
The couple reportedly brought the housekeeper to Colorado from Saudi Arabia to care for their five children and to cook and clean for the family. The Indonesian woman slept on the basement floor, was paid less than $2 per day and was the victim of rape.
Al-Turki and his defense attorney complained that they were being persecuted for their beliefs and stated, "The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution."
Al-Turki received letters of support from the local Muslim community and from his academic colleagues at the University of Colorado.
This case continues to arouse strong feelings in Saudi Arabia where there is great sympathy and support for Al-Turki.
On March 26, 2008, a high level Saudi official brought up the case in a meeting with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. He urged Americans to review the case and mentioned the strong support for Al-Turki in Saudi Arabia.

RELIGION OF PEACE

IMPORTANT NOTE

Click on the title of each story in order to go to the original news story. Women Against Shariah does not claim copyright on any of the stories. This site should be considered a repository of news stories relating to Islamic matters. We aim to put all relevant news on this site so our viewers can locate these important stories in one place. Thank you.

ABOUT US

The mission of Women Against Shariah is to prevent and outlaw the imposition of shariah law in the United States for both Muslim and American women as either a parallel legal system or a replacement for existing laws. Additionally, we hope to empower women worldwide to resist shariah.